10 Answers
10

I would listen to Jorge Castro :) But since I dont and like to tinker around... Ive only ever had one problem with Ubuntu Tweak and that was early on when the program first came out. It deleted something in the OS that wasnt supposed to be deleted and I was having all sorts of errors.

A year or two later now, its one of the first programs I install on my own system. I also do all the cleanup stuff and have not had a problem (minus that one time). For tinkering Ubuntu users, Id install it... for regular users or if you installed Ubuntu for a friend, they will never really need it.

I don't trust this tool because it delves from tweaking and goes into package management outside of the trusted repositories and recommending PPAs so I never recommend it to people.

However the author has recently began making it modular so people can just use it as a config tool without the other stuff -- once this gets finished and Ubuntu Tweak is in the Ubuntu Archive then I would consider it good to go!

Thats a good point, so you don't recommend it for stability and security reasons!?
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RobApr 4 '11 at 17:05

I heard it adds PPAs too without asking the user? Is it true?
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Manish SinhaApr 5 '11 at 9:43

2

@ Manish : No - ubuntu tweak has never added any PPA without asking the user. All PPAs are added manually by the user , with the only exception being ubuntu-tweak's own stable ppa that is added IF you agree to add it. You can avoid adding any PPA easily - i didn't add any of them since i last installed it, for example.
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ChriskinJul 27 '11 at 15:40

Yes, it is a very nice and safe program. The package cleanup option only cleans the cache of downloaded program files, not the programs. I have been using Ubuntu Tweak and haven't been harmed by it yet.

I really like Ubuntu Tweak. I think it is a good example of the line drawn between the "Linux" user and your average former-windows GUI based user. If you are a regular user, you might find it useful for the simplicity of it, but more than likely your going to make the tweaks yourself and not trust the program to do it for you. As many have stated on here. They would rather tweak themselves.

If you come from that GUI based background and as the average user does and most definitely want that ease of use and access, Ubuntu Tweak fits that purpose. One quick walk-through of the features to one of my friends that I recently converted from windows allows them to make some minor changes, one's that would require some command line, which my friend and most "Joe Plumber" users would shy away from. Minor changes like startup settings and default folder locations.

Another reason I say it's a good example of the "in-between" is if you are a say, slightly newbie or medium Linux user, with just enough knowledge to do damage. Tweaking the settings yourself and then playing with Ubuntu Tweak can cause issue's. So just stick to one or the other.

IDK how 'safe' I'd consider Ubuntu Tweak, because things it alters you'd be better off doing manually, either with, e.g., ccsm's settings window, or in an actual command line. If you know what you did, you can undo it. If you know which file you edited, you can revise it. If you press a button in Ubuntu Tweak, you may not know what it did or where.

Likewise, ask yourself: is it faster to open UT, navigate to the package cleanup section, then press the button? Would it be faster if you just hotkey your terminal open and sudo apt-get autoremove?

I'm using it (in KDE) and more than once when I've purged a PPA (thinking that only that PPA would be removed) it deleted each and every one! That wasn't what I expected. I have decided to use command line for cleanup, maybe Bleachbit occasionally (but mostly I use Bleachbit only for browser cache, cookies), and manage ppas by editing the /etc/apt/sources.list manually.

I've been using Ubuntu Tweak through many releases of it and Ubuntu. It's the first thing I install with new releases of Ubuntu. My systems and those of my clients have never been harmed by it. It isn't necessary, as with all things Linux there are many ways to perform any task. It does however simplify the things it does do.

I've been using it for more than a year, through 3 or 4 diferent ubuntu version upgrades and never had a problem. If you make a mistake adding a ppa which program/s doesn't work (usually because those packages are alphas or betas) there's an option to purge that ppa and restore de debs from the official repos.

In the desktop side of the application, it has a "backup/restore" option so you can mess all you want with your configuration and restore if there's a problem.

It's the first thing i install in a new ubuntu install, I wish it was a debian version of it.

Ubuntu tweak is good for, well, tweaking but under no circumstances should you use the janitor tool! It just rendered my 12.04 unbootable after cleaning the files, packages, etc. it suggests. Fortunately I dual boot for this reason and things like this come with the territory when you tread brazenly in Ubuntu. I have yet to find a solution and I'll probably just reinstall 12.04 tomorrow.